Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

close to neutral ph conditions, it would be very interesting to exploit these
bacteria because perhaps they could be used to leach the deposit without the
acidity problem in land-based mines.
With regard to the question on the comparison of species diversity at
vent sites, at coral reefs and at tropical rainforests, Dr. Juniper said that the
total number of species globally is very narrow about 500 at a single site. He
said that the latest study at the Endeavour segment, undertaken for a week
identified 77 species in that area. He pointed out that before that only 34
species had been identified. 34. He also pointed out that what is being
discovered is that the very small creatures known as meiofauna that are only a
few mm long, exhibit a tremendous amount of diversity. He said that in the
old days, the meiofauna that was collected in samples used to be discarded.
He said that in past few years, biologists have been much more careful about
keeping the sample intact.
Finally in relation to the question on the possible commercial value of
vent species, Dr. Juniper said that they have an economic value to the
scientific research industry because there many people studying them. He
also said that there is real interest from the bio-technology industry in some
of these bacteria which are specialized to do things at high temperature. He
said that there is a lot of bio-prospecting going on by European and North
American prospectors. Dr. Juniper said that there is few enzymes on the
market that come from high temperature vent bacteria but progress is slow
like it is in any other type of bio prospecting. In terms of the animals, Dr.
Juniper said that their initial value is discovering biological processes that
mankind never knew existed before. He concluded by saying that these
elaborate symbiosis, these adaptations to living in a toxic environment may
eventually allow mankind to deal with toxic situations on land. He pointed
out that presently it is very basic research that is taking place. He also said
that while he could not put a dollar value on it today, massive sulphides
would definitely be a mine for genetic information.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 302